Police vehicle goes to new level

A Lyons police officer makes sure the state is safe by driving a Bearcat vehicle for his SWAT team.

Colleen McBrien, cmcbrien@mysuburbanlife.com

The vehicle may not be built for speed, but it will stop an AK-47 bullet cold.

Thanks to its bullet-proof exterior, the Northern Illinois Police Alarm System vehicle has seen — and stopped — such bullets in the time it’s been assigned to Lyons police officer Matt Buckley.

Purchased for almost $250,000 by the Department of Homeland Security, the vehicle is assigned to the NIPAS Special Weapons and Tactics team to be used primarily throughout northern Illinois, Buckley said. The team concentrates in areas from the I-55 expressway, the Wisconsin border and almost to Rockford. NIPAS covers about 92 areas in northern Illinois. It can also be called up for cases anywhere in the state, said Buckley, who trains with the team three times per month.

Watch out

The Bearcat can pull a perfect U-turn and features four spotlights, sirens and several gunports. The hood weighs 750 pounds and each door weighs 250 pounds.

“The vehicle is used by our SWAT team to get up in sites when officers need protection,” he said. “It’s a fully armored, half-inch tempered steel vehicle. It’ll stop anything.”

The vehicle, which has been kept at Lyons for about a year, also features combustible gas detectors and equipment with radiation detection, Buckley said.

“It’s definitely an asset for us,” he said. “It’s called a rescue vehicle. If someone gets injured, 10 suited-up guys (are there). Lyons is grateful to have it in town ... because it has multiple uses and makes our jobs a lot safer.”

Buckley said the vehicle is requested for assistance in high-risk search warrants, barricaded gunmen and general high risk calls about four times per month. While Buckley is the only Lyons police officer on the SWAT team, all Lyons officers are trained to drive the Bearcat.

Lyons Police Chief Daniel Babich, a commission member on the NIPAS board, said the vehicle is an asset in protecting officers in violent situations.

“It’s already proven effective,” he said. “When you have a hostage situation ... this allows you to get up close and personal. It has so many things. We’re almost 99.9 percent protected. That’s the difference.”